Drunk football fan beats police officer with vuvuzela

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A drunken German football fan severely beat a police officer with a vuvuzela horn after the national team’s victory over Ghana on Wednesday night, the authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia said on Thursday.

Most of the celebrations in the town of Dinslaken just north of Duisburg were peaceful after the game, which more than 10,000 people turned out to watch, the Wesel county police department reported.

But at 11:10 pm, one intoxicated 20-year-old fan began taunting a police officer who was directing traffic around a gathering of some 1,500 people.

“As he turned to the 20-year-old, the man suddenly began hitting and kicking the officer,” the statement said. “Furthermore he began pounding the officer’s head with a vuvuzela.”

The officer was rendered incapable for duty by “severe injuries” to his head, the statement added.

Meanwhile three “courageous” bystanders jumped in to help subdue the vuvuzela-wielding attacker, who put up so much resistance that police needed assistance to make the arrest.

Vuvuzelas, the South African plastic stadium horns introduced to the world at this year's World Cup tournament, are controversial in Germany due to what many consider their irritating sound. But until now only their deafening din has been considered a 'weapon' used for distracting players on the pitch.